Taking Care of Terrific

The summer Enid Crowley is fourteen, she doesn't like much of anything about herself particularly the name Enid, which reminds her of a lot of awful adjectives: horrid, putrid, sordid, acrid, viscid, squalid. She definitely needs a change. And after meeting a black saxophonist, the local bag lady, a four-year-old heir to a fortune, and some other very interesting characters, Enid discovers that change sometimes involves more than you bargain for.

In the same wonderful, perceptive style that has made her Anastasia books so popular with young readers, Lois Lowry has once again written with mastery and insight about the very real problems of being young, being confused, and wanting to like yourself - if even just a little.

"Touching, inventive, believable, and hilarious . . . with a solid base of sharp characterization and some pithy commentary on our society." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books